Free Lean On Me (Take My Hand) by Nicola Haken

moan escaping as an unfamiliar giddiness seared through my
veins, I kept my hands on my wheels-rims and practically sped into the living
room.
     
    Five
minutes later Jared and his glorious abs sauntered into the living room. He
walked slowly, balancing a tray in his hands which he cautiously lowered onto
my lap when he reached me. This was his second attempt at making me a Pot
Noodle and as I prodded inside the plastic cup with my fork, I wondered if he’d
taken on board the advice I gave him last time.
    “Looks
good. Not too watery,” I said while twirling the noodles around my fork.
“Smells good,” I added, bringing it up to my mouth. I made a point of chewing
for longer than necessary, noting that Jared was watching me with eager eyes as
he awaited my opinion. “Tastes good too,” I praised with a smile.
    “So
I’ve mastered the perfect Pot Noodle?” he asked enthusiastically.
    “Not
quite.” He raised an eyebrow, looking down quizzically at me. “You’ve cut my
bread into rectangles. I like triangles .
They’re easier to dip that way.”
    “In
that case maybe it’s me who’s in need
of a spanking, eh?”
    Images
of smacking that perfectly taut arse of his flooded my mind and I had to push
them away before I started drooling into my breakfast.
    “I
need to take a shower after this and leave. I’ve got classes this morning and
then I’m going to attempt to finish my Cezanne assignment in the library… where
there’ll be no hot men to distract me.”
    “There’d
better not be. I’m the only man who gets to distract you now, saffy. Hot or
otherwise… got it?”
    “Wow,
you’re really getting into character aren’t you, master? I can’t wait to get
home tonight.” I winked at him before tipping the dregs of my noodles into my
mouth. “You got work tonight?”
    “Yeah.
Suppose I better show my face. I’ve had a lot of time off lately and after my… disagreement with Ben yesterday, I think
Mick’s pretty pissed off with me.”
    “You
know, I’ve heard you and Dex talk about Mick being this big fat arsehole… but
come on, he lets you get away with a lot of shit.”
    “Yeah
well, Mick can be an arsehole – but he’s an arsehole who just happens to
be my uncle.”
    “Your uncle? ” How didn’t I know that
already? “How didn’t I know that already?” I repeated out loud.
    “Probably
‘cause I’ve not told anyone before,” he shrugged.
    “You’re
being weird. Why are you being weird? Jesus, he didn’t fiddle with you did he?”
    “ What? Fuck no! I guess I’m just used to
not being allowed to talk about him. I’d be thrown out before I even finished
speaking his name in front of my parents.”
    “Why?”
    “Apparently
he got pissed one night and tried it on with my mum. Oh, and in case that
didn’t make it clear – Mick is my dad’s brother.”
    “Yeah
I got that.”
    “It
was years ago now. I barely saw him growing up but I knew who he was and that
he owned the pub. But as you can imagine, my dad’s not happy that I work for
him.”
    “So
why do you? Aren’t you mad about what he did too?”
    “Sure.
At least I was. But Mick helped me
out when I was going through a pretty tough time. He got me back on my feet
when my dad wouldn’t even speak to me.”
    “What
ha-”
    “But
that’s a whole other story. Go on, you better get ready or you’ll be late,” he
cut me off, deliberately forcing a subject change. I nodded weakly and forced a
smile. Then, after kissing my nose Jared took the tray from my knee and
disappeared into the kitchen.
    I’ve
always seen Jared as my goofy friend who could rival any fifteen year old in
the behaviour department. But now it feels like I’m seeing more of him every single day and it’s as exciting as it is
nerve-wracking. When I looked into his vivid green eyes as he spoke about Mick,
his surprise uncle, helping him out… I witnessed a sadness in his eyes that
made me suspect he wasn’t as carefree as he liked people to